SEC Says It's A "New Day": A New Agenda And New Leadership

On September 4, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") released its Spring 2025 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (the "Agenda"), providing insight into the SEC's rulemaking priorities under Chairman Paul Atkins.

In his statement announcing the Agenda, Chairman Atkins noted that it is a "new day" at the SEC and that the Agenda withdraws a host of items from the previous administration that "do not align with the goal that regulation should be smart, effective, and appropriately tailored within the confines of our statutory authority."

The Agenda highlights the following regulatory priorities:

• Digital asset regulation: In his statement, Chairman Atkins also noted the need to establish clear "rules of the road" for the issuance, custody, and trading of crypto assets. He advocated for formal rulemaking and guidance rather than the "regulation by enforcement" approach of the past. The Agenda includes several proposed rules to formalize the incorporation of digital assets into regulations governing key market participants, including those related to broker-dealers, transfer agents, custodians, alternative trading systems, and national securities exchanges. While still in its early stages, Chairman Atkins noted in a speech to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development that the Trump administration has directed regulators to "move swiftly towards" updated rules in this area.
• Focus on capital formation: The Agenda aims to make public offerings more attractive for businesses by simplifying and modernizing capital-raising pathways. Specifically, the Agenda addresses updating "exempt offering pathways," the shelf registration process, and expanding accommodations historically available to only Emerging Growth Companies. The Agenda also includes potential rule amendments to provide investor access to historically private investments and offerings, including potentially updating the accredited investor standard.
• Material disclosures: The Agenda includes a proposed rule addressing the "rationalization of disclosure practices," which is expected to focus on streamlining disclosure requirements by prioritizing "material" disclosures. We expect this proposed rule will address compensation-related rules and cybersecurity, among other items.
• Reducing required ESG-related disclosures: The Agenda notably removes a number of ESG-disclosure initiatives present on the agendas of the prior administration, including human capital management, corporate board diversity, and climate. On September 12, 2025, however, the Eighth Circuit ordered the SEC to either reconsider the Biden-era climate rules through notice-and-comment rulemaking or commit to their defense in court.
• Updates to the shareholder proposal process: The Agenda includes a proposed rule to modernize Rule 14a-8 to "reduce compliance burdens for registrants and account for developments since the rule was last amended" in 2020.

The Agenda is high level, affording the staff broad flexibility in pursuing the topics introduced. Nevertheless, the Agenda clearly indicates the SEC is prioritizing deregulation, reducing barriers and obstacles to capital formation, and providing more regulatory clarity around the issuance, custody, and trading of crypto assets.

The Agenda notes that proposed rules will be brought forward by April 1, 2026; however, the SEC is not required to act by this time, or at all.

On the heels of publishing the Agenda, the SEC named James J. Maloney as the new director of the agency's Division of Corporate Finance, replacing Acting Director Cicely LaMothe.

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